Prestonsburg

History

The area was part of the grant in the early 1700s to the family of John Preston's wife, born Elizabeth Patton, which he administered on her behalf. The grant was intended to permit British colonization beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, but subsequent French and Indian resistance and a reversal of British policy limited its impact. The land was not settled until John Spurlock of Montgomery County, Virginia, arrived in 1791. He laid out the town of "Preston's Station" in 1797. The post office was known as "Floyd Court House" from its establishment in 1816 until the late 1820s, when it was renamed "Prestonsburg". On January 10, 1862, nearby Middle Creek National Battlefield was the scene of the largest battle of the Civil War to occur in Eastern Kentucky. The town was also the site of one of the worst school bus disasters in American history on February 28, 1958. The town had a pack horse library in the late 1930s to bring library materials to rural mountain residents.

Geography

Prestonsburg is in northern Floyd County in the eastern part of the state, along the banks of the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. It is south of Paintsville and northwest of Pikeville. According to the United States Census Bureau, Prestonsburg has an area of , of which is land and , or 1.52%, is water.

Race & ethnicity